Month: June 2012

Stag parties – a short history

The practical jokes are planned and the rules are set for harsh pub drinking games. If you haven’t guessed it already I am indeed getting ready for a fun-filled array of night-time and day-time activities at a friend’s stag weekend. Preparing a bachelor for married life through a […]

The many lives of Caledonian Road

“The next station is Caledonian Road,” is one of the announcements I hear every day as I trundle into work on the Piccadilly Line. Then a few minutes later the doors open so a few people can get out and others get on. And in no time at […]

Hull of uncharted history

Working as a journalist in Hull it wasn’t hard find to find bad news. With devastating floods, murders and large scale job losses some could say that the city was tainted. Yet from a selfish point of view, all of this meant there was usually plenty of choice […]

Paying off City officials with a rose

Planning officials today would tell you exactly where to go if you offered them a rose as payment for building a footbridge across a public road without permission. But that’s exactly what was imposed when in 1381 Mrs Knollys was rebuked for creating a structure to connect her […]

The planned destruction of Deptford

Today it is one of the poorest parts of London with residents struggling to get by on low incomes, many shops look shabby, 70s tower blocks are ridden with crime and street drinking is an all too apparent problem. So it may surprise some that Deptford High Street […]